Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of New Plant Varieties (Revised in 2013)
Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of New Plant Varieties (Revised in 2013)
Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of New Plant Varieties (Revised in 2013)
Order of the State Council No. 635
January 31, 2013
(Promulgated according to the Order of the State Council of the People's Republic of China No. 213 on March 20, 1997; revised in accordance with Decision of the State Council on Revising the Regulations of the People's Republic of China on the Protection of New Plant Varieties on January 31, 2013.
Chapter I General Provisions
Article 1 These Regulations are formulated to protect the rights in new plant varieties , to encourage the breeding and use of new plant varieties, and to promote the development of agriculture and forestry.
Article 2 The new plant variety referred to in these Regulations means a cultivated plant variety, or a developed one based on a discovered wild plant, which is new, distinct, uniform and stable, and whose denomination is adequately designated.
Article 3 The administrative departments of agriculture and forestry under the State Council (both referred to hereinafter as the "examining and approving au-thorities") are jointly responsible, according to the division of their job responsibilities, for the receipt and examination of applications for rights in new plant varieties, and for the grant of rights in new plant varieties (hereinafter referred to as "variety rights") in respect of those new plant varieties that conform to the provisions of these Regulations.
Article 4 The people's governments at county level or above or other relevant departments shall reward the entity which or the person who has accom-plished the breeding of a new plant variety that has a bearing on the national or the public interest and is of great value for use.
Article 5 The production, sale and dissemination of a new plant variety in respect of which variety rights have been granted (hereinafter referred to as the "protected variety") is subject to review and approval under the provisions of relevant national laws and regulations on seeds.
Chapter II Content and Ownership of Variety Rights
Article 6 The entity which or the person who has accomplished the breeding has an exclusive right in their protected variety. Except otherwise provided in these Regulations, no other entity or person shall, without the consent of the holder of the variety rights (hereinafter referred to as the "variety rights holder"), produce or sell for commercial purposes the propagating material of the said pro-tected variety, or use for commercial purposes the propagating material of the protected variety in a repeated manner in the production of the propagating material of another variety.
Article 7 In the case of job-related breeding accomplished by any person in undertaking tasks for the entity to which he belongs, or primarily by using the facilities of that entity, the right to file an application for variety rights in respect of the new plant variety shall belong to the entity in question; for breeding that is not job-related, the right to file such an application shall belong to the person accomplishing the breeding. Upon approval of the application, the variety rights shall belong to the applicant.
For commissioned breeding or jointly-conducted breeding, the ownership of the variety rights shall be agreed upon by the parties in a contract; failing such an event, the variety rights shall belong to the entity or person commissioned to conduct or jointly conduct breeding.
Article 8 One new plant variety shall be granted only one set of variety rights. If two or more applicants apply separately for variety rights in respect of the same new plant variety, the variety rights shall be granted to the, person who applies first; in the case of a simultaneous application, the variety rights shall be granted to the person who has first accom-plished the breeding of the new plant variety concerned.
Article 9 The right to file an application for variety rights in respect of a new plant variety and the variety rights may be assigned in accordance with the law.
If a Chinese entity or person wishes to assign to a foreigner the right to file an application or the variety rights in respect of a new plant variety bred in China, such assignment shall be approved by the examining and approving authorities.
In the case of an assignment within China of the right to file an application or of the variety rights by a State-owned entity, it shall be submit-ted in accordance with the relevant national regula-tions for approval by the competent administrative departments concerned.
The parties involved in the assignment of the right to file an application or of the variety rights shall conclude a written contract, and shall register the assignment before the examining and approving authorities, which in turn shall published the assignment.
Article 10 Without prejudice to other rights of the variety rights holder under these Regulations, the exploitation of the protected variety shall not require authorization from, or payment of royalties to, the variety rights holder for the following purposes:
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